The Sonic comics have been consistently great and this one is no exception. As someone who was sad when Archie stopped their Sonic comics, the new line has been so good that they’ve really caught the ball and kept on running with it. I hope to see this one continue to go on for a very long time and become a Sonic ongoing with hundreds of issues. However long it may take, seeing Sonic get all of these stories will be a blast!

This one takes place right where the last volume left off with Sonic dealing with the mecha virus that is poisoning everyone. Sonic can resist this with his speed but for how long? He has to protect his friends while trying to find some kind of cure to this but it won’t be easy. His friends are all slowly weakening and if the virus takes on any of his more powerful friends then it can be all over. Even Eggman isn’t able to control the robots at this point so his right hand man is starting to look into some backup options.

In prior volumes there were different plots going on with Sonic helping someone else in each issue but this time it’s a true ongoing plot. You could say we’re in the end in terms of there not being a whole lot of heroes left. Team Chaotix takes some hits as well as Team Dark. It’s definitely a pretty high stakes arc and so I’m up for it being as long as it needs to be. I’m guessing we’re approaching the end but I’d be cool with another volume or two.

This one’s starting to bring in more of the wider cast like Gmerl and Omega which were fun to see. Naturally a virus will not be able to take them over since they are machines which is helpful for letting them stay in the fight. Omega can be a little unreasonable the whole time with how he keeps firing on the civilians but this leads to the most embarrassing part for him where he is actually unable to damage them anyway. His firepower just isn’t up to snuff compared to the metal virus and I was pretty surprised about that.

Gmerl starts off by fighting Sonic but at least he is able to see reason. Once Sonic explains that he can turn back to normal with his speed and Cream also tells Gmerl to stand down, he does. The guy wants to protect her at any moment but he doesn’t close the channels for debate. So that’s what makes him a good protector here. Each character has their own idea of what to do in this situation and some have better idea than other. I think Charmy for example looked pretty bad here because he really had no plan. The guy let his emotions get to the best of him.

Sometimes I am on board with a character defying everyone to save one person. In fact most of the time this is the right option but the problem is there was no way to actually save her without dooming a lot of other people and then of course that isn’t worth it. If you have a plan to actually save someone then you gotta do it of course but if your plan is really just trying to make some kind of move with no thought behind it then that’s not good. So these are the kinds of things that you want to think about.

There is an infamous Shadow moment here though and so lets talk about that. The main problem with the moment is that Shadow is nerfed pretty hard and also acts out of character here. He would rather get completely absorbed by the enemy than run away to prove a point. They also swarm him rather quickly. The big problem with this of course is reaction times. Even if he thought that he couldn’t be turned, he was seeing this happen in real time. So he had many opportunities to start running rather than just letting himself be taken like that. There’s no way to have him lose here and you get the feeling the writer just needed to find a way to write him out.

It’s got to be tough working with a character like Shadow who is basically as fast as Sonic but a lot more powerful. So maybe this was all they could think of but all I’m saying is that it’s still very, very noticeable. They could have done better here without a doubt. At least it does lead to our next Sonic vs Shadow battle which is always fun. Since Shadow is being controlled Sonic does get to dominate a little more this time around.

As always Sonic is an excellent main character and that hasn’t changed. He does his best to save everyone and always has a plan at the ready. He feels like a true leader and is so much more than just his speed. I definitely love the portrayal and he continues to really shine with all of the screen time. Eggman’s going to need to come up with something big to really keep up. Losing control as always isn’t a perfect look for him and he needs to watch out since it looks like he may get betrayed again. It’s definitely not easy being an evil genius.

The artwork here is really solid as you would expect. The comics have always been great in this area just like they’re great in all of the others. The characters really pop out and the colors are sharp. Everything is always on model and that makes for a winning formula. The battles are also really sharp as a result even if there aren’t any super long ones in this volume. It’s more about moving around and trying to survive rather than a big 1 on 1. The series always still manages to sprinkle in some nice comedic moments while keeping the stakes high so the writing is also on point.

Overall, Sonic is continuing to blast through this comics run with a ton of great moments and a really solid story. There just haven’t been any down sides to the comics at all yet and each arc delivers just as well as the last. I dare say this arc may even beat the Metal Sonic one at this point but it does depend on the climax of course and how this all shakes out. Hopefully I get to check out the next volume soon and we’ll see how that goes. The amount of Sonic stories that you can tell is really endless.

Overall 8/10